Churu people

Chu Ru
Pediment with ascetic figure, Po Rome, Ninh Thuan, 14th-16th century AD, sandstone - Museum of Vietnamese History - HCMC
Total population
 Vietnam 23,242 (2019)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Lâm Đồng - Bình Thuận
Languages
Religion
Ethnic religion (majority), Christianity, Islam
Related ethnic groups
Chams and other Austronesian peoples

The Churu (or Chru) people are a Chams related ethnic group living mainly in Lâm Đồng, and Bình Thuận provinces of Central Vietnam. They speak Chru, a Malayo-Polynesian language. The word Churu means Land Expander in their language.[2]: 12–15  The Churu's population was 23,242 in 2019.[1]

Some Churu villages have close ties with the Kaho people, so they speak Koho fluently, and even prefer Koho to Chru.[2]: 13 [3]: 140 

During the French colonial period, the most influential highland leaders in Đà Lạt area were Churu. They were said to be the most advanced among the highlanders because of their historical links to the Chams.[4]

  1. ^ a b "Bơmung festival of the Churu people". baolamdong.vn. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference lamdong_library was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Henri, Maitre (1912). Les Jungles Moï (Rừng người Thượng) (Vietnamese Edition 2007 - translated by Lưu Đình Tuân, edited by Andrew Hardy and Nguyên Ngọc ed.). Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản Tri thức. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  4. ^ Gerald Hickey, Sons of the Mountains: Ethnohistory of the Vietnamese Central Highlands to 1954, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 313, 314